... on Thursday night ... he joked about “goddamn windmills” while talking with House Republicans in Baltimore about energy policy....This matters to evangelicals, at least in principle.
Trump has been urged in the past to cease using this particular word. A state senator from West Virginia, Paul Hardesty, told Politico in August that he got calls from three constituents after one Trump rally alone. He wrote a letter to the White House: “Never utter those words again.”
At that rally, the president had told a North Carolina crowd about the Islamic State, “They’ll be hit so goddamn hard,” and had recalled warning a businessman, “If you don’t support me, you’re going to be so goddamn poor.”
“I certainly do not condone taking the Lord’s name in vain. There is a whole commandment dedicated to prohibiting that,” said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Texas megachurch leader who is one of Trump’s most outspoken evangelical advisers and supporters. “I think it’s very offensive to use the Lord’s name in vain. I can take just about everything else, except that,” when it comes to off-color language.So evangelicals are more upset by profanity (taking God's name in vain) than obscenity (vulgar words referring to sex or excretion). And yet they love Trump. So maybe this doesn't really bother them?
... Timothy Jay, a retired psychology professor[, has] made it his business for 40 years to be the world’s leading expert on swear words.
“I’ve done surveys where I ask people: What’s the most offensive word?” Jay said. “Some [religious] women would say the word ‘f---,’ but they wouldn’t say ‘Jesus Christ.’ Some of my interviewees have said, ‘We could say ‘f---’ and ‘s---’ at home, but we weren’t allowed to use profane language.”
On the other hand, maybe this isn't a big problem for Trump because most evangelicals don't know that he frequently says "goddamn." If you don't watch every Trump speech, you might never hear him say it -- clips in which he says "goddamn" aren't likely to be highlighted on the news. They certainly won't show up on Fox or on religious broadcasts.
So Democrats, where's the supercut? I don't mean a supercut of all of Trump's cursing -- "bomb the shit out of them" and so on. Those supercuts already exist. I mean just a supercut of Trump saying "goddamn."
Don't make it fun or entertaining. Make it seem deeply disturbing. Make it seem like a warning to God-fearing people about Trump. Maybe the "goddamns" themselves should be bleeped (but only partially, so the use of the word is still obvious).
Spread the supercut around on Facebook. Target it to evangelical voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Maybe wait until fall 2020.
If you dissuade just a few of these voters from voting for Trump again, it's worth doing. Isn't it?
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